What Lies Beneath
by Lyonene
Summary: The Courier has won the battle for the Mojave. She is the last man standing after the bloodbath at the Dam but there have been causalities. Her allies from the East have disappeared, presumed dead and her own personal demon is MIA. The battle for the Mojave is settled now Courier must return to the Divide and wage a war for her soul.
1. Chapter 1

This is the 4th in the **Anthem of Angels** series following **Time for Miracles** , **This is War** and **Hurricane**. If you haven't read any of those, you probably should. This is also a Fallout (video game) and Wrestling x-over. If you are unfamiliar with Fallout, usually I try to provide definitions or explanations. If you need something explained, please ask.

 **Features:** the Undertaker and the Undertaker -twice the yum!, Shawn Michaels, John Cena, Chris Jericho (Irvine), Melina Perez, Kane and whoever else I toss in.

 **Summary:** The Courier has won the battle for the Mojave. She is the last man standing after the bloodbath at the Dam but there have been causalities. Her allies from the East have disappeared, presumed dead and her own personal demon is MIA. The battle for the Mojave is settled now Courier must return to the Divide and wage a war for her soul.

* * *

Everything hurt. Her lungs burned, so did her throat, even as she violently spewed water and blood. She was on her back maybe, most of it went right back down her throat, causing her to choke. She was dying.

" _Grandma's here, grandma's here, yay!"_

"What the-"

" _Oh my goodness, look at these little angels!"_

She knew that voice, it was Lily. She could hear Lily, she was dying.

"Hey, hey!"

Someone was yelling at her, but she was trying to focus on Lily. She heard children. Blackness was crawling back into her vision.

"Christ lady, you're messed up."

"I'm dying." She whispered hoarsely, more blood and water trickling past her lips.

" _Let grandma see what she's got…"_

* * *

 **1:** **After the Battle**

After the battle of the Hoover Dam, Chris Irvine had received his orders. They, and by they it was meant the entire NCR and its forces, were to evacuate the Mojave. They had three days to get out and any act of aggression would be met with robots equipped with rocket launchers. He hadn't been surprised, Courier had made it clear during their few encounters over the past months that she wasn't NCR friendly anymore. She hadn't approved of their methods and she sure hadn't approved of how they thought they were going to run her desert. He wasn't that impressed anymore either, which was why he had resigned, effective immediately.

He was no longer an NCR Ranger. He had led his rangers into battle, helped win the day, and then called it. He was tired of the politics and he was ready to retire. Hell, Courier might even put him up for a bit, she probably owed him a favor or two.

He had been trudging along the edge of the Colorado, unsure just what to do. Sure, going to New Vegas seemed like an idea, but it was probably overflowing with refugees. Courier had her hands full there. Maybe he'd head to Reno, or go further east. His musings had been interrupted by a hoarse hacking, someone had been coughing violently and he had spotted something very battered laying near the shallows.

On the other side of the river, he could see tired NCR troops heading back to the various forts and camps that scattered the Mojave. No doubt to rest up and spread the word that they had to leave. None of them were sparing a glance anywhere but at their feet and he felt a twinge of guilt about his resignation. He hadn't even bothered waiting long enough to get back to a camp, he had just upped and quit.

Sighing, Chris approached the hacking thing, knowing it was probably a survivor of the battle. Depending on which side this person had fought for, that survivor status was in question. When he was at the person's side, he crouched down, frowning. It took a moment of really staring past the blood and bruises before he realized he had seen this woman before. She had been at Courier's side during the fighting. "Christ lady, you're messed up."

"I'm dying…" She managed to whisper, blood and water both trickling from her cracked lips.

He believed her.

* * *

"Where is she?"

River had just stepped out of the Lucky 38 to go search along the banks of the Colorado for Faith, Mark and Kane. Shawn, John and Melina had all been on board with this and Yes Man had already dispatched what Securitrons could be spared days ago. She had not been expecting to find the The King standing there, flanked by a handful of his men. They all looked a little rough for wear, the fighting had just barely spilled into New Vegas during the fight and afterwards the NCR had, for the most part, left her city peacefully but there had been some skirmishes. It was the fourth day and she could finally spare her time to go personally search for her new friends. "She went over the dam." She said finally, feeling Shawn's hands coming to rest on her shoulders, offering her support. She swallowed down the unexpected emotions that threatened to choke her when she seen the look on The King's face. "I'm… I'm sorry."

He cleared his throat several times, his long eyelashes blinking rapidly as he struggled to keep himself in check. "Her body been recovered?" He asked thickly.

"Not yet. I've had the Securitrons out looking for her, for them."

He nodded. "And her husband, he make it?"

"We don't know…" River took a deep breath. "We were getting ready to go out and help with the search but…"

"But there's a chance we're not going to find anything." John said finally, stepping up to stand alongside River. His normally ice blue eyes were soft with sorrow, knowing that look on the other man's face all to well. "If nothing's been found yet… there's a chance the bodies were taken downstream, pass our borders."

"Me and my boys, we're coming to help."

"You don't-" River stopped and nodded when he simply gave her a look. "All right, let's go."

* * *

Chris had no idea where he should go. He had managed to cart the woman to relative safety but that was about it. She needed medical attention, more than he could provide. She had several broken bones, probable internal bleeding, the works. He was on the wrong side of the river, he knew that. He was in Legion territory, such as it was, and he was sure there would be a few remaining Legionaries, hell bent on defending their fallen leader or out for revenge.

Carefully, he re-positioned her over his shoulder, glad she had passed out or else this would hurt her even more. Chris took a good look around, his eyes bleary, and finally spotted what looked like a door built into a rock wall. He'd risk it.

* * *

"Damn, we fucked that up." Melina whistled when Boulder Dam came into view. There were still bits of it smoking from the battle that had waged only days prior. "I see you already got people on it." Making repairs she was assuming. People and robots, working side by side, it was… amazing actually. "Where'd you get those folks?"

"All over the Mojave. I had runners sent out ASAP, work is available with fair wages. You'd be surprised." All those squatters and beggars in Freeside had, for the most part, jumped at a chance to actually earn a living. She had plans, a lot of plans, and there would be plenty of work for all for several years to come. "They went over up there, and the current is going that way." She pointed. "So we need to go that way. Two parties, one on either side of the river." Automatically, she turned to John.

"I'll lead the team on the other side. Melina?"

"Oh you already know I'm coming with you." The fiery brunette laughed, toasting him with her ever present flask.

The King was surveying the damage. He hadn't been out of Freeside and in the actual Mojave in years. Not much had changed. He smiled wryly as he took in the Dam. "Half my boys will go with you." He gestured, said boys automatically moving to stand behind John. "Let's go." One way or another, he needed to know what had happened to her.

Dead or alive, he needed to see.

* * *

It was a shack, built into the rock wall. It was deserted and looked like it had been for quite some time. Chris took in the dust and sand covering everything. Lamps, oil, food and water… some weapons. For now this would do. He could only hope the previous owner didn't decide to come back anytime soon though from the looks of the place, nobody had been here in months which meant they were unlikely to return at all. Gently, he lay her down on the simple army cot, taking a moment to gather himself. She needed medical treatment, and those wet clothes removed. Given that it was warm, he figured the clothes could wait a moment or two longer while he scavenged for things to tend to her.

Stimpaks, there were a few of those, bandages, he would definitely need those… Old rags that weren't to bad off and purified water. It wasn't much but it would do. He also found two extra blankets in a cabinet and he brought those with him as well. He set up next to her, removing his dusty jacket and then poured water over his hands. It had been awhile since his last refresher on medical training, it was something NCR was supposed to do every year but… like everything else the NCR did, it hadn't worked out.

Chris had stripped her of all her things but her underclothes and it was worse then he had imagined. She definitely had internal bleeding, it looked like something had been punctured. Even with his training, this was out of his depth, she needed a doctor. "Fuck…"

"Reset the ribs."

He nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the hoarse whisper, eyes moving to her face. She was staring at him out of her one good eye and he frowned, noticing the way the left side of her face appeared sunken in. After wetting a cloth, he gently began cleaning away the blood and filth, hissing along with her when he seen what was underneath the superficial layer. "You hit the side of the dam…"

She nodded once, her good eye closing. "Broken."

"I'm… I'm not a doctor- I don't remember your name." If he ever knew it.

"Faith."

* * *

River had known going into this hunt that finding any of them: Faith, Mark… or even Luke, was a lost cause. Luke, she was sure had survived. She would have _felt_ it if the bastard had died. Mark and Faith though, there was no sign of either. Chances were they had been carried away by the Colorado and their bodies were further on down the river, past the Mojave.

On day six, she called off the search.

Shawn had known it was coming, and he had known their chances of finding any of them was slim. But hearing River announcing they were done seemed to make it real. He felt something in him breaking and hung his head, reaching up to remove his straw cowboy hat. He'd have to send off a letter to Doc Church back East, back where she had come from.

He'd have to send news to the Capital Wasteland that their Savior, their hero… that their Lone Wanderer had met her match in the Mojave.


	2. Chapter 2

**2: Into the Darkness**

There was so much that needed to be done and River knew she really didn't have the time for the excursion she was planning but… she was going to go anyway. She took a week to start setting affairs for New Vegas and the Mojave in order. She left detailed plans with Yes Man as to what she wanted done, ideas to improve the quality of life for the people, jobs that needed able bodies… if they could bring things together, it would be beautiful.

She also had taken the liberty of sending out Securitrons to finish rounding up the Powder Gangers and the Fiends that had managed to escape Mark's purge. She knew the Legion would be a problem, what was left of it, down the road but first… the raiders. There was no way to restore true law and order to the land, not really, not without demonstrating a massive show of force and then maintaining it. One thing at a time…

"You're leaving?"

She looked up from her conference table in the penthouse. She had given her companions access to the quarters she now shared with Shawn though none could use the elevator to the bowels of the Lucky 38 nor could they use Yes Man for anything other than what she had programmed in. She smiled at the sight of Shawn ambling down the plushly carpeted stairs and took a moment just to admire the view. "I'm going to the Divide." She said calmly.

Shawn knew what the Divide was, he had heard her story about what had happened there. What she had inadvertently done. The lives she had destroyed if not taken. He also knew that was where she planned on looking for the Undertaker. Sighing, he raked a hand through his loose hair, staring at her sadly. "Why can't you accept he's probably dead, River?"

"Because he's not."

"He went over the dam."

"Not the first time."

She had a point but damn it… "What makes you think he's… why? Just why?"

"Because I can't truly do what needs to be done here, or live my life, watching for him over my shoulder. I need to know, absolutely know, that he's dead."

"I'm coming with you then."

"No, you're not. Getting into that place the first time, and out, was a bitch. It's dangerous and if I remember rightly, underneath that place were nuclear missiles. Lots of them, enough to…" River trailed off as she really thought about that, the implication of it. "I must've set off a severe nuclear fallout there… oh my God…" Her hand came up to cover her mouth, blue eyes wide. She had never given it much thought before losing her memories. She had been a drunk and happy to be alive after her harrow escape of the Divide. She hadn't known back then that _she_ was the cause of all that destruction.

Shawn watched the play of emotions across her scarred, tanned face and knew she was having some issues. "Riv?"

"You're not going." She said after a long moment, her face going blank and her tone final.

* * *

Chris had been shut in with Faith for over a week and once she had started really coming around, she had instructed him on what to do to help her. It was obvious the woman had education and not just the shit they taught you in the NCR, she had a fine, well rounded education. "Where are you going to go from here?" He asked, sitting on the cot with her. She was leaning against the wall, wrapped in a blanket and eating a bowl of Blamco mac 'n cheese. He had not missed the way her whole face had fallen when he had served that, apparently she didn't like the stuff.

Faith had been thinking about that all week, unsure of her next move. She felt like there was a gaping hole in her chest where her family used to be. Grammy, gone. Chris had told her that all but two of her companions from New Vegas were accounted for, the missing two had gone over the dam. A giant ghoul and the Undertaker. He had heard that on his walkabout after the battle but before finding her. The Undertaker… both of them had gone over, assumed dead. The ghoul, assumed dead. Everyone had been assumed dead, herself included. But there was that tiny spark… that little bit of hope. If she had survived… maybe they had too. "I'm going… I'm… I don't know." She said finally.

He nodded, eating his own food quietly. He got that. He had no idea what he was doing either.

* * *

Getting out of New Vegas hadn't been easy. River had had to practically sneak out of her own city to avoid Shawn coming, or John stopping her. But this had to be done, there was no two ways about it. She knew 'Taker was alive. She knew it. And she also knew that if she didn't go to him, if she stayed in her Mojave and worked on rebuilding, that he would bide his time and wait. When he did come back, he would probably destroyed her beloved desert and everything in it. Just like she had done to the Divide. No… she wasn't having that. One way or another, it all ended.

Sighing, she set her course for that lonesome road. It would take her three days to just hit the entrance to Hell, where her Reaper waited.

* * *

Her face looked so much better, Chris thought as he studied Faith's cheeks and chin. Everything had been broken, smashed in, from where she had hit the dam. "I think you'll survive." He expected she'd be leaving anytime now.

"Probably," she agreed, moving away from him when he let go. She had kids to get home too, her adopted children from the caves, and how was she going to explain to them that Mark was gone? "I…" They both jumped when the formerly locked door opened. "Courier?"

"You're alive!?" Courier stepped inside, shaking sand out of her hair. "Oh my God, Faith! Chris!" She felt like Christmas had come early. She hadn't gotten the Lone Wanderer killed, Shawn would be so happy.

"What… how, why are you here?"

"Oh… well, you see…"

* * *

River owned that little ass shack, or at least she had lay claim to it, and it had been a convenient place to stop on her way to the Divide. She had explained what she was doing, where she was going, and the status of people and places to the pair. Chris had seemed both sad and relieved that the NCR was gone and Faith had only gotten quieter and quieter.

Now, she was standing at the entrance to the cave that would lead to the road she needed, Faith at her side. She had sent Chris to New Vegas to relay messages for her. "You sure about this, kid? This is a one way trip for most people."

"My husband went over the dam with him." Faith said quietly, staring into the darkness. "If Mark is alive… he'll be there."

"So be it."


	3. Chapter 3

**3: Remembering the Divide**

 **Once** upon a time, the place now known as the Divide had been Hopeville and Ashton, a city and a military base. It had also been a part of a research project regarding meteorology. It had been a disastrous project, one that left Hopeville, Ashton and the surrounding areas subject to violent dust storms.

Once upon a time, Courier Six had delivered a package 200 years after those bombs had fallen. The Divide had been an oasis nestled in a bowl of dust storms that would peel the skin from your body. The passages in and out were treacherous, made doubly worse by the Legion and NCR battling over the non-allied community. The people who had finally settled there had made themselves a proper town, it had been… well, a proper town. She had been a bit out of it back then, hopped up on whatever took away the pain.

When she had delivered that package, she had been delivering death. She had been delivering what was basically a detonator, and it had set off the pre-war missiles still in their silos. Before the Courier, it had been the dust storms that travelers had had to worry about. After the Courier… the Divide was inhospitable. The missiles, long forgotten in their silos, had destroyed the place.

Walking that old, familiar road to the Divide made something in Courier anxious. Her steps seemed to slow, and she wished she could turn around. She had brought death and destruction to all those people. There was a very weird irony there, that she had also brought the same down on Luke, the Undertaker, who had sought refuge in the Divide. It was fitting that that's where he would meet his end.

"You're starting to hesitate."

Courier had almost forgotten Faith was there with her, the 'Lone Wanderer' from the Capital Wasteland. Married to one Undertaker and the victim of the second 'Taker, that was just a mess she hated trying to fathom. "This place… holds some bad memories." She said finally, not sure how else to word it. She wasn't feeling up to recapping one of her more darker moments. She had recounted the tale once before, in the Lucky 38, Faith had been in the Auto-Doc during that time, recovering from her assault.

"You have it tattooed on your back."

"You're really not going to let it go, are you, kid?"

Faith smiled humorlessly, her mud brown eyes flat. "I'm curious why this place is where you _know_ they'll be. Obviously, it's important to you and… and him." She still couldn't bring herself to call Him 'Taker, or by his actual name. "And I want to know what I'm walking in on."

Groaning, Courier thought about the Divide, how it had been the day she had delivered its destruction and how it must be now. Nuclear fallout wasn't kind to anything, and the world was still recovering from it two hundred plus years after the fact. This was going to be fresh, dangerous, and she swallowed down everything she had eaten for breakfast when it threatened to come back up. "It used to be a three day trip there. The area was… unique, at the end of the Mojave, with mountains one way and it was almost valley-esque. "Experimentation gone wrong back in the day left it called the 'dust bowl', because the community that had been built… was at the center of a 'bowl' in the land. Whatever those scientists back in the pre-war days had done, it caused dust storms. Bad ones, like… rip your skin off your face bad."

Faith kind of liked her skin the way it was, attached to her body.

"When I was a courier, I delivered a package there…" Blue eyes closed and she stopped walking, hands dropping down into tightly clenched fists at her sides. "It was a detonator, but I didn't know that. I also didn't know that there were ICBMs still in their silos at the Divide."

"Oh damn…" Faith's eyes widened, already seeing the implications there and shook her head. "Nuclear fallout."

"Nuclear fallout."

* * *

They stopped in Goodsprings. Courier figured they might've been able to hit the Mojave Outpost, but… she had booted the NCR out, and if there were any stragglers, they might open fire on her. Goodsprings was a safe bet. "We'll use Shawn's house tonight and then hit up the general store in the morning. Chet's a bastard but he'll give us good prices." She said tiredly, walking up the familiar path to the house that had served as both Shawn's residence and the medical clinic. She wasn't surprised to find things were different, Shawn had sent a Follower here to take over clinic duties since he had relocated to New Vegas to be with her.

Said Follower was on her way to bed, made small talk, and then continued to bed. Courier noted that the Follower was sleeping on one of the cots in the room Shawn worked out of. Her eyes lingered for a moment, remembering waking up from that room, knowing nothing about nothing, except that she was Courier. She was still Courier, even if other people insisted on using different names.

She showed Faith the room they'd be staying in, Shawn's room, and Faith didn't seem to mind the fact that they'd be sharing the bed. Hell, Faith was probably just grateful there WAS a bed, after spending all that time on a cot in a shack. While Faith used the restroom, Courier raided the kitchen, setting up two plates of whatever looked edible and two bottles of beer. It was cold, that's all she cared about.

When Faith emerged, she was freshly showered and out of her traveling leathers. She was going to have to eyeball the general store for something better than this brahmin hide shit she had found in Courier's shack. The armors Melina had given her had been ruined in the fall. Her eyes landed on the plate of food and beer, dropping down in an old but serviceable chair at the Courier's gesture. Hesitantly, she reached out, pulling the plate towards her and eyeballed it. Blamco mac 'n cheese… so gross, she hated that shit. However, she was never one to turn down a meal. "Thank you."

"Not a problem. Now," Courier took a slow sip from her bottle, regarding the younger woman thoughtfully. "You and I are going to get to know each properly." Since she had disregarded Faith for the most part, and then… then shit happened. But now, they had time, and she wanted to know the woman she was going into Hell with. She wanted to know who the Lone Wanderer was.


	4. Chapter 4

**4: Getting to Know You**

"Why do you hate the Enclave so much?" That was something that Courier had been curious about from the get-go. Faith had made it quite clear she held a grudge -if that was the right word for it- against the military organization, the 'would be' remnants of the former United States of America.

"Have you MET them? What's not to hate?" Faith snorted into her plate, raising her eyes up to the other woman. Courier had been with Luke, who had definitely been Enclave.

"I was here when they started coming into the Mojave, I was a Desert Ranger back then, with my brother." She said quietly, slowly. She didn't like talking about that, about Phil, about any of it. Who she had been then and who she was now were two painfully different women. "We were an independent organization based out of Reno, we were here when both the NCR and the Enclave came."

"Mmm, no, the Enclave WAS here then." Faith said, shaking her head.

"How the fuck would you know? You'd of been living in a vault then."

"Because I've spent most of my time out of the vault fucking them up, it's why I came here actually. Well, one of the reasons." At the 'go on' look from Courier, Faith sighed and poked at her food. "The Enclave began before the bombs fell, and afterwards, they kept their asses on an oil rig, waiting and acquiring resources. When they started venturing back onto soil, they started in California, established their bases there… their goal was to 'take back' the United States. Of course, they got to see the super mutants and the ghouls, so they had to go, they were abominations."

"Well, on that, I agree with them. Mostly. Not all ghouls are feral."

"And not all mutants are dangerous imbeciles." Faith countered, Fawkes and Lily coming to mind. She felt something clench in her chest at the thought of the Nightkin who had taken her in as a 'grandbaby', remembering her dying at the Dam. Kane had dived over and down into the Colorado after her. Mark had been taken over by Luke. None of them had likely lived, yet here she was, about to venture into another Hell zone just to find out for sure. Courier seemed to think her evil 'Taker was still alive, and that gave Faith hope that maybe her husband was as well. After everything they had gone through since coming to this cursed desert, the strain between them, only to lose him… no, she had to be sure. "The um, purge, eventually moved to include the human survivors, the new generations, under the premise that they were unclean because they had been born into the radiation."

The implication of that hit Courier promptly and her eyes widened. No wonder… no wonder those bastards hadn't been discriminating about who they killed. Everyone outside the Enclave was a mutant to them. It explained a lot about 'Taker actually. Her lips pursed in a scowl. "Okay… so once on-shore, they got their start here then."

"Yes, and eventually, they got their asses handed to them here by both the Brotherhood and the NCR." Which she imagined Courier had been a part of. "Whatever is left here, I intended on stomping out."

Courier considered all of that, remembering when Steve Austin had promoted her to leader of the Desert Rangers, which had been immediately merged with the NCR Rangers. "I get that they're evil scumbags, but you're issues with them seem personal."

"That's because a colonel made it personal."

"A colonel?"

Colonel Steve Austin. She had met him on her trip to a vault, looking for the G.E.C.K.. She had been attacked by a yao guai, a mutated type of bear, and he had been there. He had been there when she was stuck in a vault simulation. He had found her in another vault beneath Little Lamplighter and taken her back to the Enclave base at Raven Rock. He had been there at the Jefferson Memorial. He had been there when she had infiltrated Adam's Air Force base and the Enclave's mobile crawler. That man had helped shaped her life outside of the vault and who she was today. She had never hated someone the way she hated him. "He was second in command, to the computer… the computer was a type of artificial intelligence, and supposedly, the president of the United States." John Henry Eden, she could recall hearing the Enclave's radio station, and the supposed President recounting his childhood in beautiful Kentucky. What a load of bullshit.

"That is… fucked up."

"Slightly," Faith agreed dryly. "But, it was the Colonel who was the real… bad guy." That sounded so cliche, the bad guy. But he had been bad, he had been downright evil. She remembered the last time she had seen him. He had nursed her back to health just so he could beat her ass all over again. She had ran from him, inputting the code into their targeting system, intent on killing off the Enclave, him and herself with it. Shaking her head, she took a deep breath. "He wasn't from D.C., he said he came from the west… but he seemed to bleed Enclave."

"He came from the west? Like here?" Courier bit down her next set of questions when Faith gave her an exasperated look. Making another 'go on' gesture, she began shelving her questions, focusing on what she was being told. It took her quite a bit to realize that Faith had started the same name over throughout the story.

Steve Austin.

The idea of _her_ Steve Austin, the man who had led the Desert Rangers, who had been married to a living angel, joining the Enclave and being as evil as Faith described him made something in her cringe. The man had stood against everything the Enclave was for, it made no sense. "Was… was he bald?" She asked quietly. "With blue eyes?"

"He did." Before becoming half-cyborg after he had gotten his ass handed to him at the Purifier. Honestly, Faith had thought him dead, she had shot him at pretty close range. She took in the way Courier's face seemed to sink in on itself, finally getting it just as her stomach plummeted. "You're Brooks, aren't you?" She whispered, remembering Austin telling her she reminded him of some kid back west named Brooks.

"I was."


End file.
